Reducing vibrations emanating from a machine, plant, or other vibration-emitting equipment is vital for a disturbance-free operation of the machine or plant itself, as well as for its surroundings. Conversely, it is important to reduce external vibrations influencing the machine. Therefore, a distinction is made between active isolation, which protects the surroundings from vibrations emitted by a machine (vibration emission), and passive isolation, in which the machine or plant itself is protected from external interference (vibration emission).

Mounting a machine or plant on vibration-isolated bedding reduces amplitudes resulting from sinusoidal or shock excitation to a permissible operational level. Damping plays an important role in this, as it transforms mechanical energy into heat and thus limits the amplitudes to a permissible level. It is important to choose a suitable vibration isolator in order to achieve the best possible isolation effect.